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In celebration of its 7th season, North Carolina Stage Company is remounting its acclaimed production of Chesapeake, by Lee Blessing. The show runs for 10 performances, August 20th through 31st, and all tickets are $7. Chesapeake is a one-man comedy about art, politics and dogs, starring NC Stage Artistic Director Charlie Flynn-McIver and directed by Producing Director Angie Flynn-McIver.This special 2-week run of Chesapeake is an opportunity for NC Stage to experiment with a different model of producing, outside its 6-play Mainstage Season. By lowering ticket prices to $7, deliberately less than the price of a movie, the theatre hopes to attract the attention of non-traditional theatergoers: young people, working parents, and people of all income levels. Also similar to seeing a movie: tickets are available only online and at the door, and patrons are encouraged to enjoy their concessions in the theatre. The $7 ticket price is only possible because of the generosity of the Chesapeake production staff. As a professional (rather than community) theatre, NC Stage pays all of its actors, directors, designers, front of house staff, and technicians. Chesapeake’s original production staff generously agreed to donate their fees for this experiment. Art. Politics. Dogs. Three disparate subjects are seamlessly woven together in Lee Blessing’s provocative play. What begins as a tussle over public art funding between a provocative performance artist named Kerr and conservative southern senator Therm Pooley quickly billows into a much broader battle that forces both men to completely re-think the value of art. Caught in the middle is Lucky, the senator’s beloved Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Blessing’s joyous one-man play ultimately spares no one on either side of the political divide. NC Stage Producing Director Angie Flynn-McIver notes that the choice of this play for the theatre’s ticket experiment was deliberate. “This play exemplifies the kind of work that we try to do at NC Stage: it’s funny, it’s very, very smart, and it asks its audience to dig a little deeper, to go beyond a knee-jerk political response. Charlie and I have always believed that theatre can touch something fundamentally human in all of us and that’s why we founded the company.” In addition to a 2007 production in Asheville, NC Stage took Chesapeake to the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte this spring. The production has been critically acclaimed in both cities. North Carolina Stage Company is in its seventh year of producing professional theatre in downtown Asheville. The theatre has been voted WNC’s Best Local Stage Company for three years in a row by readers of the Mountain Xpress, and in 2006 was named Outstanding Professional Theatre by the North Carolina Theatre Conference, the state-wide theatre advocacy organization. Since 2001 NC Stage has spent over $1.6 million in the local community, served over 28,000 WNC students through its residencies and school performances, and sold more than 25,000 tickets to productions in its 99-seat theatre. To get tickets:
By Lee Blessing August 20 – 31, 2008 Wednesdays – Saturdays at 7:30; Sundays at 2:00 All tickets $7, available only online at a href="http://www.ncstage.org">www.ncstage.org or at the door an hour and a half before curtain time (evening box office at 15 Stage Lane, Asheville NC 28801) (Images provided by the NC Stage Company)
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